Briarwood’s perfect area run continues with sweep of Shelby County

Published 10:13 am Saturday, September 21, 2024

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Briarwood Christian Lions continued their dominant run through area play with another sweep, this time over a county foe.

Briarwood defeated Shelby County 3-0 on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Briarwood Christian School to improve to 3-0 in area play.

In those three area wins, the Lions have not dropped a set and have now won nine straight sets against area opponents going into their second meeting with each area opponent.

Both teams entered the match with a lot of momentum. Shelby County was fresh off a pair of area wins over Central-Clay County to get area play started off right.

Briarwood, in addition to its two area wins over Central-Clay and Sylacauga, finished in second place in the Husky Challenge, going 4-2 with its only losses coming to Class 7A opponents Tuscaloosa County and Hewitt-Trussville.

The Lions took advantage of their momentum and multiple days of rest and sprinted ahead to a dominant lead in the first set.

From there, Briarwood pulled away for a commanding 25-8 win in the opening frame.

The Lions didn’t slow down after that and continued to control the remainder of the match.

Briarwood built out another large lead in the second set and used that to keep the Wildcats at bay down the stretch.

While Shelby County made the second set closer than the first, the Lions still cruised to a 25-10 win that put them up 2-0 in the match.

Needing just one more set win to get to the halfway point in area play unscathed, Briarwood continued to play from ahead and sealed the victory.

The Lions won the third set by the exact same score line as the first, taking the set 25-10 to seal the 3-0 match win.

Claire Anderson had the team-high in kills with five to go with three digs and an ace. Ava Doss and Julia Thompson both finished with four kills apiece, and Doss added two aces and two digs as well. Livi Reebals also had three kills and three digs in the victory.

Briarwood improved to 16-11 with the win and will look to keep its positive momentum going into its next area match at Central-Clay County on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m.

As for Shelby County, while its win streak was snapped by the Lions, it will have a chance to improve on its 2-1 record in area play with a home match against Sylacauga on Monday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m.